Journal 3

This week my preceptor asked me to follow the house nursing supervisor because she was going for a meeting. This was another learning experience. We first went to the usual bed management meeting which is always chaired by the house supervisor. It is an informal meeting done every morning. I also learned how the house nursing supervisor reports death which is a State of Texas regulatory process. In addition all deaths also have to be reported to life Gift in Houston. I also observed the Supervisor report death to the Justice of Peace of the Tarrant County Death Office. The house supervisor plans her goals for the day and deals with issues and situations as the day goes by. She told me that each day is different. She is the one who coordinates with central scheduling associate on all patients who come in the hospital. They coordinate with the Doctors in getting admissions for their direct admit patients. She collaborates with the directors of the various floors, ER, Cath. Lab, Surgery, patient transfers and staffing. She coordinates with healthcare interventions and communications for those individuals whose self-care needs are significant.
We went round the floors, ER, Cath. lab and surgery to make sure that patient transfers were done and also checked on the supervisors in each department to see how they were doing. The hospital has a central board on the intranet where they post all in house transfers. The nursing supervisor is also in charge of in house transfer of care of patients to other facilities. I witnessed a transfer of a baby to another care. We went through the procedure together. The dispatch team that handled the baby transfer is known as the teddy bear team. The teddy bear team comprises a nurse and two EMS staff. In this situation, it is the duty of the charge nurse to make sure that there is a physician to take care of the baby at the other end. The hospitals have protocol and care guidelines with other hospitals to handle all patient transfers.
The house nursing supervisor collaborates with the staff to expand decision making, problem solving skills and goal-setting. She is a teacher, coach, and facilitator. She has mutual trust for her staff, respects their ideas and takes their feelings and emotions into consideration.